The Latest Instagram Beauty “Trend”? No Filter, Shame-Free Acne

People are now rallying for #skinpositivity.

There’s a new self-love trend stirring on social media. Just as the ongoing body positivity movement has made it so stretch marks, thighs that touch, and all different body shapes are better represented and celebrated in fashion, entertainment, and beyond—the latest frontier for acceptance is a common affliction nearly everyone’s dealt with: acne.

On Instagram, where people typically project their most flattering, filtered selves, feeds are now filling with raw photos of cystic pimples, whiteheads, redness, hyperpigmentation, and scars.

This used to be taboo. Just look back at 2015, when Em Ford of @mypalefaceblog unveiled just how much vitriol showcasing acne on social media brought with her viral video, “You Look Disgusting.” The pseudo-makeup tutorial, which has since collected over 27 million views, exposed real, nasty comments she received once she started posting makeup-free photos.

Today, Ford still posts photos of her bare face to her two million followers on Instagram and YouTube. She’s one of the leading voices of the growing #skinpositivity movement. While the hashtag hasn’t quite gone viral—there are currently just over 600 posts using it, and a couple hundred on related ones like #acnepositivity—the ethos of it has. More and more, we’re seeing rallying cries against acne-shaming encouraging people to embrace their skin, breakouts and all (that’s not to say do nothing about it—just that having pimples isn’t a reason to feel less confident or beautiful).

“Acne is a massive insecurity for people all over,” Ford recently wrote in an open letter to Kendall Jenner after the model shrugged off scrutiny about her visible acne on the 2018 Golden Globes red carpet. “I truly believe that the only way to truly alleviate these worries, insecurities and fears, is to have more women like yourself, who live their life with a kickass IDGAF attitude about their acne and talk about how completely normal it is.”

Where Ford paved the way, countless others have followed. See: Kali Kushner, who captured the internet’s fascination in October 2017 for candidly documenting her efforts to manage cystic acne. Nearly every selfie she puts up is makeup-free and always accompanied by some fighting words against the stigma of skin spots.

“Acne is only temporary. An important reminder, as this is something I often forget. It does not define who you are unless you let it,” she wrote on January 6.

In December 2017, London-based dermatologist Anjali Mahto took a close-up selfie of her acne. “I am not a perfect dermatologist with perfect skin—nor do I aspire to be,” she wrote, detailing that she’d been dealing with the skin issue since 1992 and tried everything from nine rounds of roaccutane to the birth control pill.

She continued, “Sometimes it isn’t down to what we are eating or sleepless nights or heavy make-up or anything else we are doing wrong. It is just the luck of the DNA draw in terms of our unique combination of hormones and genetic.”

Even models, whose paychecks hinge on them selling perfection, have started being more outspoken about acne. In December 2017, Briana Lopez posted a widely-shared photo of her acne at its worst. “To be a model you basically need to be ‘perfect,’ she wrote, “I’ve struggled with [my skin] so much, and I feel like I need to stop pretending like I haven’t. Especially in this industry—it can be very deceiving about body image and skin.”

Meanwhile Belle Lucia, whose feed looks like any other model’s with its bikinis shots, #OOTDs, and travel images, uncharacteristically posted a side-by-side photo of her usual envy-inducing selfie with one that showed clusters of breakouts.

“No one is perfect,” she declared. “I’m posting this to hopefully help those out there suffering with acne or anyone worrying about the way they look, because when I was young I wish someone would have told me that your looks don’t define you and even the ‘models’ you see on advertisements aren’t perfect.”

Celebrities, too, have stepped up to be more open about their acne struggles. In December, Orange Is the New Black star Ruby Rose shared photos of acne on her Instagram stories as a power move against tabloids scrutinizing her skin at a movie premiere. Meanwhile, in September, Rachel Bloom posted a selfie on the set of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend with her hormonal acne on full display.

All of the above is a stark contrast from the full-glam beauty looks long pushed forth by Instagram’s most high-profile, most-followed beauty personalities. Think full-coverage foundation, blinding highlighter, inch-long lashes, sharp angular brows, deep contouring, and elaborate eyeshadow (peep mega-popular account @hudabeauty to see what I mean). This has been the reigning “look” countless beauty influencers have upheld. While these makeup looks are aspirational and undoubtedly require loads of talent—I’ve also felt like they’ve normalized a freakishly perfect, pore-less, FaceTuned standard of beauty (and these are supposed to be the approachable, just-like-us folks of Instagram—we’re not even talking about professionally retouched photos of celebrities).

Instagram: @rubyrose

That’s why it delights me to see zits. As someone who’s struggled with acne for over a decade and is deeply familiar with all the self-hate and frustration that comes with it, scrolling through closeups of people owning their breakouts makes me feel less alone. It also leaves me optimistic that less people will have to feel all the shame and disgust we’ve been taught to feel about having acne. I hope pimples become so normal and uninteresting that headlines won’t have to be written every time someone says so.

While I still stand by doing whatever you need to do to make you feel comfortable in your skin—including wearing makeup or actively treating your acne to clear it up—what is most promising to me about the budding skin positivity movement is the message that your bad days don’t define you or your beauty. In fact, those bad days aren’t even “bad” at all.